Rangel probe widening

posted at 6:00 pm on December 9, 2008 by Ed Morrissey

Did Nancy Pelosi predict a quick end to the House Ethics probe into Charlie Rangel’s tax problems? If so, her predictions are worse than the ones I make for the New York NFL teams on Sundays. The committee has voted to broaden their investigation into Rangel to include a massive donation to a favorite Rangel pork recipient in exchange for assistance on a tax bill:

The House ethics committee is expanding an investigation of Rep. Charles Rangel, chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. The ethics panel issued a statement Tuesday saying it had voted to expand an already far-ranging probe into the New York Democrat to examine whether he protected an oil drilling company from a big tax bill when the head of that company pledged a $1 million donation to a college center named after the congressman.

The move means the Rangel inquiry will likely stretch well past early January, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had previously said she expected the matter to be resolved. ….

The committee will now investigate contributions or pledges of money made to the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York, particularly one made by Eugene M. Isenberg, CEO of Nabors Industries, Ltd.

Rangel, 78, reportedly helped preserve a tax loophole that saved the company tens of millions of dollars a year.

The congressman, who has been in office for 40 years, maintains he has done nothing improper, and he says he has always opposed the kind of change to tax law that would have cost Nabors dearly.

Really, Charlie? Because it sounds like the kind of loophole that Barack Obama promised to close in order to raise the money he needs for his populist agenda. It sounds like the kind of corporate dodge you claimed that the Bush administration favored. But as long as the money flows to the Monument to Me, funded generously by your pork, Congressman Rangel, it appears you see nothing wrong with it.

Republicans want Rangel to resign his chair on Ways and Means while the Ethics Committee does its work. Until today, though, the committee had shown no particular reason to believe it would take any action at all against the powerful New Yorker. The expansion of the probe sends an ominous signal to both Rangel and Pelosi that they may not be able to avoid it.

Like the ethics committee is going to do anything other than a wrist-slap.
Soooo, where’s the press been while Good Times Charlie’s having fun.
Just once could we apply the rules libs set for us on them?

Think about it….every Dem that gets elected doesn’t have the kind of dough the Witch’s husband has or the Swimmer, or Hanoi John. How do you EXPECT them to become wealthy beyond your wildest dreams….SAVE THEIR $176K SALARY???

The problem with the concept of ‘The Most Ethical Congress Ever!’ is that the same people that write the rules are the very same people that ensure there are backdoors available to keep the vigorish flowing. How can 565 people honestly claim they speak for 300 million? The House of Representatives Barons treat their satrapies as virtual kingdoms to trade influence. It is impossible to blow miscreants out of office thanks to State gerrymandering. The Senate House of Lords even thinks tourists are literally ‘unwashed masses’ defiling (and stinking up) the marble monument to ego and corruption that is Congress.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see 50 State Constitutional Amendments increasing the number of House seats by decreasing the size of each Congressional District to what the Founding Fathers originally envisioned?

It is unusual for the House Ethics Committee to involve themselves in anything related to ethics. It will be miraculous if this turns into any meaningful action against Rangel. It has always been my sense that congressmen’s first loyalty is always to each other.

Rangel thinks he can get away with anything because he is in such a safe democrat seat. We need to bring the rule of law down on this crook.

Dollayo on December 9, 2008 at 6:11 PM

This is one of those situations where I hope the GOP can field a very appealing candidate to truly challenge Rangel.
And there should be no pussy-footing around, his opponent should be very straight forward and tell the voters of Harlem exactly what Rangel has done.

You think you’re better than I am, Charles Rangel? Where we came from, if one did not want to be poor, one became a congressmen or a bandit! You chose your way, I chose mine. Mine was harder. Now I am going to tell you something. You became a congressmen because you were … too much of a coward to do what I do!

The one thing we have with Charlie is that Rangle is no Pelosi lackey (or an Obama one either). If he is put down and a Pelosi stooge is made chairman, the hard left has a tighter grip on policy. It looks the next guy in line is Pete Stark, the ultimate Pelosi stooge. Leave Charlie in there, and let the scandals come out drip by drip.

“Um, uh, um listen, the um, um, Rep Rangel, the Bolgy Thing broke today. So um, ‘Hope and Change in one hand and crap in the other and see which comes first, ole buddy.’ Um, uh, yeah, and the next time you see me or reference me it’s, “President Elect Obama. Got it Old Sport”

Rangel: More anecdotal evidence to support my theory that some people are elected to Congress simply because their neighbors can’t stand them and vote for the scum bags in order to exile them to Washington.

As Rush has said, you can’t accuse Democrats of being unethical because they never claimed to have any ethics to begin with. Only Republicans claim to have values and standards and, thusly, are subject to being held to account for even the smallest lapses.
Once again, nothing to see here, people. Move along.

I think Charlie’s ethics are higher than his constituents. But then again, after Cold Cash Jefferson got re elected two years ago I thought the same thing about New Orleans. I am glad I was proven wrong this year about N.O. and hope to be proven wrong in two years by Harlem, New York City.